The next day...

"I'm flying to the Philippines." Prinseung walked down the stairs and announced to her brother. 

"You're what?" Taecwoon looked back at her from the couch with raised eyebrows. 

"I'm flying to the Philippines." She repeated herself. "I'm going next month. I'll be headed straight to Puerto Prinsesa."

"Alone? Do Ma and Pa know?" Taecwoon asked. 

"Nope." She sat down beside him and the TV using the remote. "I fought with them yesterday, have you forgotten?" Prinseung heaved a sigh and hooked her brother's arm into hers and leaned her head on it. "To be honest, you're the only person I trust in this house. I don't even know if I can believe every word, Ma-" She paused. "Your parents anymore." Taecwoon just looked at her with sad eyes that wanted to say a lot, but couldn't. He felt bad for the girl; he felt bad for his sister. Taecwoon chose not to say anything back to his sister, not wanting to scold her about the 'your parents- our parents' part of the problem. No arguments=no fights. "I'm gonna look for them."

"Your parents?" 

"I'm gonna ask them why they just left me like that; why they couldn't have just taken me in." 

"They probably had their reasons, Seung. Everything happens for a reason...and you know that." Taecwoon reminded her. 

"Well, whatever that reason was, I wish it would be enough to cover up the mess they've done." Prinseung said, "Because frankly, I can't think of any reason that'll convice me that throwing me out was the best option." 

"Promise me one thing tho," he asked her, making Prinseung look at him. "If you find them, you won't leave us. That no matter how much you didn't like us, you'll still stick with us." 

"Well, I can't promise that. I heard Philippines is home to some good chicken." She jested.

"Yah!" Taecwoon yelled. 'At least she's taking it in better than yesterday.' "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. What is it?" She asked, willing to answer anything, "Let's have one of those cheesy sibling talks before I leave you for Philippines' chicken." She winked at Taecwoon. 

"First of all, never ever ever wink at me ever again because it's disgusting coming from you." Taecwoon pointed out, and continued while Prinseung laughed; "Second; I will tie you up on a chair if you ever leave me. And third; where'd you go last night? With MY CAR?" And for this question, Taecwoon was expecting some kind of lame excuse or a stupid answer, but she gave him a surprise. 

"Hong Bin." Prinseung's laughter disappeared within a milisecond and was replace by a weak smile. 

"What's going on between the two of you, anyway?" Taecwoon attempted to as. 

"I know you know we like each other." She said, as a matter of fact, making Taecwoon shrug. "I hurt him." 

"What'd you do?" 

"He thought I was with someone else when he found me last night. I was with Mark. But Hong Bin didn't know him. And Mark just told him he was my boyfriend. From then on, Hong Bin didn't want to talk and he just left." Her shoulders sunk. "Gosh, he didn't even call me this morning." 

'He calls her every morning?! Dang, I need to have a talk with that boy.' Taecwoon thought. "Mark? That guy at the office?"

"Yeah him." Prinseung nodded. "Such an idiot. He just ruined everything. I hate him. Me and Hong Bin were doing well and there he was, ruining it." At that moment, Taecwoon's cell rang and vibrated in his pocket. "Answer it. It might be important."

Zitao.The caller ID showed this name, and Taecwoon could only think of one thing; he needs to get away from Prinseung to answer the call. And so he did; excusing himself, he walked to the dining area before picking up. 

"What did you find?"

"I'll send you the documents through email. It should be there by now."

"Alright, thanks." Taecwoon dropped the call and immediately checked his inbox; nothing was more important than this now. All of a sudden, the boy was tensed; scared; agitated when he saw the subject on the top of his flooded inbox; HWANG AGENCY. When he finally opened the mail, the first thing he saw, aside from the title of the document; "RESEARCH REPORT", was Mark's name. Mark's full name:

MARK YIEN TUAN

AGE:24 YEARS OLD 

: MALE

HEIGHT: 1.75m

MOTHER: MARALIN TUAN       'aunt Mara' Taecwoon remembered the name.

FATHER: RAYMOND TUAN          'uncle pops' As well as his closest unlce. 

NATIONALITY: TAIWANESE

DOB: SEPTEMBER 4. 1993

PLACE OF BIRTH: SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA

SIBLINGS: N/A

CURRENT ADDRESS: GANGBUK DISTRICT, KIM APARTMENTS, FLAT NO. 808. (SINCE 2013)       

PREVIOUS ADDRESS: GANGNAM VILLAGE, 46TH STREET, NO. 59 (FROM 1995-2013)         'Mark...' Taecwoon was now a hundred percent sure. 

OCCUPATION: SALES MANAGER 

         It was enough. Taecwoon didn't even reach the second page of the document. He didn't need to reach the second page. Mark's parents and his old address. Those were enough to assure him. 

"So you were beside her all this time, huh?" He mumbled to himself. 'If he knew who she was, then why isn't he saying anything? That rascal.'  

From the very beginning of their meeting, Taecwoon really detested the idea that Maark would get anywhere near Prinseung. The main reason was that the boy believed that Mark would cause Prinseung to leave the house and turn her back on them. But he loved his sister dearly. And seeing her broken down like last night was an awful sight to see. 

"So you guys thought that I was never ever supposed to find out?!"

"You're the only person I trust in this house."

All of those words came out from Prinseung's mouth. And this tore him apart. Taecwoon wanted to keep his sister with them. But he also wanted her to find out more about what was hidden years ago. Taecwoon knew that Mark was someone who was there for Prinseung; he would've known about her whereabouts throughout the years. But what if Prinseung finds out that they were childhood friends? He didn't know. He didn't know what to do; his mind is a mess; at one point, he wants to help his sister, but another part of him wants to create a different old background for his sister- He wanted to make sure she stays with them. Then, he remembered what Prinseung told him earlier;

"He just ruined everything. I hate him. Me and Hong Bin were doing well and there he was, ruining it." She was refering to Mark. 

"Ugh, whatever. One thing at a time." Taecwoon growled. "If she remembers him, so be it. If Mark tells her, so be it. She promised to stay anyway... Dang it, Prinseung. If you break your promise."

"Don't break your promise, please."

Earlier when Taecwoon left to answer the call...

"It's taking him forever..." Prinseung said five minutes after her brother dissappeared into the dining area. She concluded that her brother might take forever since it might've been work things and thought; 'Perfect.'

        Prinseung made her way up the stairs making sure that no one saw her head straight to the attic which was a flight of stairs from the second floor. Truth be told, the youngest Jung was never allowed into the attic. Her parents always told her it was just a room full of rats. of course, being the much younger version of herself back then, Prinseung believed it very well and stayed away from that room. But after a lot of thinking last night (or perhaps last morning), something hit her; perhaps her parents may have been hiding something from her. Being honest, it was just her father who told her about the rats. Taecwoon or Dara neither told her anything. Instead they stayed quiet everytime Jiyong scolded Prinseung for trying to get into the attic. 

        As soon as her legs finally relaxed after the flight of stairs, she came to see a door. The only door on the third floor, actually. Taking a step closer to the aged wooden door, she clutched the door, twisting it for entrance. But the door didn"t budge at all. She tried once again, twice, thrice. The door was still shut closed, laughing at and mocking her. Prinseung saw the key hole and remembered; 'All keys are always hidden near the window' The Jung kids, ever since they were young, went on games such as looking for the hidden keys of the house, and putting it back afterwards.It was her brother's idea. 

'So you were actually preparing me, huh?' She thought and smiled as she thought of her one and only loving brother. Soon, she went around the third floor, searching for the only key that kept her from the attic; Prinseung first checked the window beside the stair case, double checking to make sure she didn't miss the presence of the key. After finding nothing but dust, the girl moved to the next window and trailed her eyes on the window frame, until she saw something stranger that made it's presence obvious. Thinking it was the key, she pulled out the thing and realised it was what she was looking for...years ago. 

        What she found was actually the bracelet of her favourite barbie doll which she had carried with her everywhere, even in the mall. "So this is where I lost ya!" She shook her head remembering how much she cried over that small little jewelry to her father for days. As soon as she noticed her father's presence in the memory, she rubbed it off her mind and went back to trailing her sight from where she stopped. A little further down the trail, closer to the other end of the frame, she saw a key... a nearly fully rusted key that lost its shine throughout the years. The girl smiled and picked out the key from the pile of clustered dust. Blowing it revealed the key's cruves and edges before inserting it into the key hole. The door unlocked once, and again.

         Prinseung didn't want to waste any more time and opened the door. Unexpectedly, the door was very heavy. Like an elephant and a dinosaur's weight put together. The girl had a hard time pushing it open, but when she did, she was surprised; the attic wasn't like how those in movies she had seen. It wasn't messy. It wasn't dirty. It wasn't an avalanche of boxes home to rats and sqirrels. The Jung's attic was neat and clean and tidy. The walls were hidden behind shelves that helf different types of equipments, boxes and books. There were four ancient drawers on the floor in the middle of the room that had glass tops and fancy classic wood, with gems as its designs. The gems we'rent just designs though. And she realised it after scanning the gems' positons on the drawers. All of the drawers had their gems horizontally aligned, forming shapes. After squinting her eyes, Prinseung walked closer to the chest of drawers, leaving the elephant door to close on its own. The gems spelled out each of the family members' names. Beginning on the extreme left; JIYONG then DARA then TAECWOON then PRINSEUNG.

         Seeing her name, Prinseung went straight to that one and pulled the first out of two drawers; empty. Puzzled, knowing that there should've been something there, Prinseung proceeded to open the second drawer, but it was an exact replicate of the first; nothing but empty. 

"What the heck?" She mumbled in suspscion. Prinseung slammed the second drawer closed out of frustration. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she was so sure that something would've been there. Something that could help her. 

          Just before the drawer hit it's end, something budged, creating a soft sound only Prinseung could hear. It called her attention while her eyebrows were still knotted from the annoying encounter of emptiness. Seeing how the drawer did not close all the way, she knew something must have stopped it. Prinseung pulled out the drawer wth all her might (thankfully it was ten times lighter than the door of the attic), laid on her side with her hands supporting her weight so that she wasn't fully laid on the floor as she spotted the culprit. 

          The budge came from a very thin card holder that seemed as if it had lived in that drawer for billions of years. It lost lots form, perhaps because of the strength of the slam that killed it. Prinseung reached out for the strange old item and sat up. The cardholder was tiny, brown and made of faux leather. Instead of flipping threw the pages, the youngest Jung decided to do things her way; she flipped it over hoping that something would fall out of it, but nothing happened. Prinseung gave the holder a 'you're-so-useless' look before finally doing it the right way by flipping threw the translucent pockets that was probably home to some cards in the past. 

"I swear, something is so strange about this attic." Prinseung acknowlegded it. "Even THIS thing is clean." She was taking about the cardholder while checking the pockets. As she chcked each pocket diligently, the end of the holder came. A white peice of what seemed like photo paper showed itself to Prinseung, to which she raised her brow at. Being so eager to find something, she pulled it out and saw a small note that was written down messily with the ink of the pen spread out a bit. The hand writing wasn't that nice either, but the message at the bottom of the paper was legible;

Just call my name, and i'll be there. 

"How cheesy." Prinseung commented, before flipping the paper to reveal its other face.

But it wasn't just a face that she saw but faces.  

Prinseung was only capable of identifying one of them. The other was completely unfamiliar. 

"Who..."

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

well, im pretty sure you guys know who it is ;) 

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE DONT BE SILENT READERS. 

leave comments guys! :))